A Little Bit Hurt
by Dukes126plus
Summary: Somewhere out there Luke's brother is being stuffed to the gills by Daisy and talked deaf by Jesse, and that's fine. What's weird is the barely contained violence with which Bo is putting him to bed. From Brotherly Love. /Warnings: slash, incest./


_Brotherly Love_ has some really good moments in it, and some that aren't so great. I think we want Luke to reminds us all that, suddenly-arriving little brother or no, Bo is still number one in his heart, but of course, he never does.

* * *

"You know," for a guy that's claiming to be so worried about Luke's _slight_ concussion, Bo's shoving him around pretty good. "You're an idiot."

Well, he's heard it often enough, but he doesn't exactly _know_ it. Besides, Bo's the one who really qualifies for the word right now. He's standing just inside their closed door, hands holding onto his own hips like he's got to restrain himself from pushing Luke into the bed the same way he manhandled him into the room. The clothes on his back are filthy from a day of crazy stunts, blonde hair sticks out in whichever direction it was pointed when it dried, his pink face is stuck in an ugly scowl. Somewhere out there Luke's brother is being stuffed to the gills by Daisy and talked deaf by Jesse, and that's fine. What's weird is the barely contained violence with which Bo is putting him to bed.

"You could have gotten yourself killed." So he's been told, a few times. In fact he got treated to a long lecture from Jesse about how suddenly having a baby brother did not give him license to be a jackass. But then, what would Jesse know about it? It's not like the old-timer is doing anything more paternal than shoving apple pie into Jud's mouth and reminiscing on how much the guy resembles Luke's father.

Great, so Jud looks like a Duke. So what? He has no idea how to act like one, and teaching him fell right onto Luke. Another impetuous brat to keep safe, and Bo has been more than enough for the past twenty-something years. At least his cousin knows better than to show up on family's porch, empty handed but for a load of problems, then try to sneak out the back door hoping to have left those pesky things behind. Jud's got a long way to go before Luke can stop worrying about him.

As though he can tell that Luke's mind has focused back to his baby brother, Bo starts advancing on him. "You ain't a half good swimmer when you ain't hurt." For all that Bo's expressing concern about his safety, seems like he'd have no problem with steamrolling over Luke right now. "You ain't got to go diving in the water with no head injury."

He could explain to that finger poking into his chest about how his brother was going to drown. But the dozen or so times he's tried so far haven't made any headway. Besides, around the edges of Bo's wild eyes, there's that telltale ring of red, reminding him of what he woke up to this afternoon.

It flashes through Luke's mind that he could tell Bo all those same gentle things that Aunt Lavinia laid out for him all those years ago. About how the younger ones, the kids who come along later, need to be taught how to behave, that the whole family has to work together to raise the little ones, even if that means that the kids who've been around longer don't get as much attention as they're used to. Luke considers trying to elucidate for Bo about how Jud might technically be older but he's just that much less mature (spending a lifetime with a woman who would snatch a baby from a fire and raise it as her own could do that to a man), but in the end, he doesn't.

Instead, he grabs hold of that hand that's poking into his chest, and in an echo of what happened this afternoon, he uses both hands to unwind it out of its angry curl, kneading until it's open and relaxed.

"Luke." Bo doesn't mean to say it, obviously has no plans for anything that sounds that miserable to come out of his mouth. His eyes, now that they've lost that hard glare, skitter away to stare at the table between their two beds like the answer to all of life's hard questions will be there.

Yeah, this is pretty close to where they were a few hours ago, except Luke was flat on his back and Bo's head was on his chest. Scared him for a second, that weight there, made him imagine broken ribs and punctured lungs. His head hurt bad enough he didn't want to open his eyes, and his right hand seemed immobilized, so he felt around with his left until his fingers found hair. Right about then sounds began to register, Bo talking to him, crying, asking if he was awake now. It was more than he reckoned he could handle in his clearly diminished state, but it turned out to be easy. Opening his eyes was all it took to evaporate every ounce of heartbreak in room into a sunshine smile.

Then. Back when all that mattered was that Luke was alive. Now there's been enough time for his kid cousin to remember that he's been worried, scared and a little bit hurt.

Luke keeps both of his hands on Bo's and pulls him to the bed as he goes. Sits down long enough to let his cousin watch him toe off his boots, then pulls on that big old hand in his grip as he lays down. Bo gets the hint, kicking off his own boots before getting into bed beside Luke. Big, fuzzy, yellow head trying to find a comfortable spot to settle on Luke's shoulder, one arm slung across his chest and the other wherever it winds up. Bo's not complaining, so neither is Luke.

"What about Jud?" Bo asks just about the time that Luke gets to exploring the sooty smudge on the back of that yellow shirt.

"He's in good hands." Comes out half in a yawn. "Your shoulder hurt?"

Bo shakes his head; it's a lie and they both know it. "Not a lot," he amends. "Not anymore."

Luke pushes at all the cotton between him and Bo's skin, trying to get a better look, but it's pointless. He's too tired to do anything about it right now anyway, and there's no doubt in his mind that Bo will still be right here when he wakes up.

"What if Jesse comes in, or Daisy?" Could happen, Bo's got a point. Luke reckons he ought to care, but he really doesn't.

"I'll handle them, I expect," he answers, running one hand through all that blonde mess. The boy needs to settle down and let Luke sleep.

"Luke?" That oversized head is moving under Luke's hand, tipping back to look at him.

Yeah, Bo's been a motor mouth since the day he got sent to sleep in a big boy bed next to Luke. Well, there's one way to deal with that. Luke kisses him. "Shh," he admonishes, right after.

The pest still manages to sound miffed. "I was just going to say that I love you."


End file.
